Solo Hike

I went for a solo hike on Saturday--left the boys to hang out, play with monkeys and lions--you know, the usual. There are a number of trails on the Wissahickon that I haven't had the opportunity to explore, so I picked a route and set off! Sometimes I forget how vital the woods are to me. How rejuvenated I feel when I'm next to a bubbling creek. Or how comforted I am by the resin-like smell of pine needles drying in the sun. I don't ever talk about God here--mostly due to the fact that I wouldn't consider myself a religious person. But, when I'm standing beneath a huge beech tree, dwarfed by it height and girth, or feel the cool, crisp quiet of an empty wooded trail, I can't help but feel God. Whatever it is, however it moves and breaths--I feel it most keenly in the woods. By the water. In the quiet.